Three Boaters Rescued Off Keaton Beach

Oct 31st, 2007 · Comments Off on Three Boaters Rescued Off Keaton Beach

KEATON BEACH, Fla. – The Coast Guard ended its search Wednesday, at about 2 p.m., for three overdue boaters aboard a 20-foot pleasure craft who have been missing since Sunday evening, after a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) aircraft located the boaters about 30-nautical-miles southwest of Keaton Beach.

Vannie Wetherington, 69, of Perry, Fla., her son Joe Wetherington, 43, of Atlanta, Ga., and his girlfriend, Kelly Trezek, 41, of Marietta, Ga., were aboard their vessel waving their arms when they were located by an FWC air craft at about 2 p.m., Wednesday.

The family was safely transferred to an FWC 45-foot patrol boat and are currently enroute to Keaton Beach where the family will be taken to Doctor’s Memorial Hospital, in Perry, Fla. Their condition is unknown.

“We are thrilled that the family was found safe,” said Petty Officer First Class Tasha Tully, Coast Guard spokesperson. “They did the right thing by staying with their boat. It is a lot easier for rescue crews to find a boat in the water as opposed to a person in the water.”